When you hear the music of hot hip-hopper Theophilus London, it’s clear that while he’s based in Brooklyn, N.Y., his sound isn’t typical of the inner-city rap that comes from that battle-scarred borough.

Yes, the songs on London’s major-label debut, “Timez Are Weird These Days,” carry elements of old school rap. But they also teem with new wave, electronica and even punk in a genre-bending amalgamation.

What might be a surprise is that London says he owes some of that diversity to living in The Poconos.

London's style has not only helped his album hit No. 4 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, but get such broad acceptance that his song “I Stand Alone” was featured on the HBO series “Made in America” and the CW Network series “90210,” on which he also made a cameo appearance.

And in November, he’ll have a new song on the soundtrack to the highly anticipated movie “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I.”

But London says a good dose of his musical diversification comes from his time living in Mount Pocono, where his parents moved him to attend his junior and senior years at Pocono Mountain East High School in Swiftwater.

The Trinidad-born London says he had started rapping on his first day of high school in Brooklyn — battling the school’s best MC on the staircase while “all the girls were going crazy. I was like, man, girls really like this stuff.” But he says he found a broader music landscape at Pocono Mountain.

In a recent telephone interview from his home in New York City to promote his show Oct. 25 at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, London, 24, talked about his time in the Poconos, the start of his career, and where he’s headed now.

Here’s a transcript of the call:

How you doing, Theophilus?

“How’s it going?”

Hey, you just got back from Europe. How was that?

“Yes, I’m tired. But cool. I went over there to play a TV show. I have Album of the Week over there, so I went over there to play a TV show, plus I also played a sold-out show at Moulin Rouge (cabaret in Paris).

Great. Hey, I want to ask you something sort of our of the blue. As I prepared for this interview, I saw a reference that at one point you lived in the Poconos.

“Yeah, I lived in Pennsylvania in the Poconos.”

Whereabouts? What was the closest town?

“I lived in Mount Pocono. I went to Pocono Mountain East High School.”

Are you serious? What years were that?

“I graduated in 2006. I just went there for my junior and senior years. Yeah, played on the basketball team -- I was on the bench. I even performed at my graduation.”

Do you still have relatives there?

“My dad, Larry London, still lives there. He actually lives in Castle Hills now, he got a bigger house. I got cousins that still go to Pocono Mountain West.”

What memories do you have from your time there?

“Um, it was definitely a good learning time for me. That was the first time I left Brooklyn. And there was a lot of individuality. It was my first time seeing gays and lesbians make out with each other in high school, the hallways. The first time kids were not only into rap, but liking Nirvana or U2 or whatever. There was so many extra activities to get into: basketball, tennis. I got my own car finally. It was like I was never from New York.”

(In fact, London says it was just two years after his 2006 high school graduation — he says he sang at his commencement — that London says a birthday party persuaded him to make music a career.

He says he had created a mix tape, “Jam!” as a party favor for guests of his 20th birthday. But people liked it so much that, before he knew it, he had distributed 200 copies. Shortly after that, he says, he wrote his first song, “Last Name London,” and played it for his father, Larry, in his bedroom.

The father’s reaction, London says: “So you’re not going to be a doctor?”

The singer says he started playing open mike nights and “meeting people that knew other people,” until he was signed by Warner Bros. Records. After several successful mix tapes that increasingly mixed popular music with rap, London released his full-length disc.)

OK, so tell me about your album “Timez Are Weird These Days.” What did you hope to accomplish with it and how do you think it turned out?

“Yeah. I just wanted to make 10-song pop record. So I got really good reaction to the remixes I put out, and I think it was really pivotal for me to put them out because I expanded my fan base through that. Now every time I go play places like that, I have an awesome fan base that comes there; everyone kind of knows my vibe. That was like me teaching everyone about me and my taste in music, my taste in clothes, whatever. With this album, I just wanted to make a 10-song pop record of songs that I think can fit on radio, just like be the soundtrack for someone’s life. I wanted to just make this big record, this big-sounding record, and just not use any samples at all, just based on references. And it was fun.”

I have to say, your music is really something different.

“Well, thank you.”

I was a big fan of both old school rap and of new wave, and you’re mixing it up – melding both of those styles, and more. So how do you describe your music? Do you call yourself a rap artist?

“Yeah, I mean, I definitely learned a form of rap. I just call myself a singer-songwriter at this point. I’m a songwriter. I think rap is awesome and relevant – you can get so much across in just telling the stories in rap and stuff. And I even dig poetry. You know, I’m just growing and developing as a writer and songwriter.”

Do you consciously have influences from new wave and old school rap? Is that something you consciously relate to?

“All the time. All the time. All the time. Everything I do is kind of based off a reference or sound that I heard.”

A lot of your songs are getting attention. “I Stand Alone” was on HBO’s “How to Make It in America.” You had a spot on “90210.” So tell me what it feels like to be getting that type of attention and that type of use of your songs.

“Well, it’s fun, you know? It just shows I’m getting better as a songwriter and my songs and my vocal abilities – to sing records. These are songs that are definitely where I wanted them to be. They’re living on sound tracks, they’re serving other purposes, Like TV shows’ directors or music producers are like, ‘Oh, this song would be great for this scene.’ So I definitely captured moods in these songs. Like kids see them on ‘90210’ and know them from that, I think that’s great. I’m just thankful and overwhelmed. But that’s what I expected, kinda.”

And I think you’re right. Your music has that sort of dramatic element to it. And atmospheric sound that lends itself to portraying things that are going on. How did you end up on the soundtrack of the new “Twilight” movie, “Breaking Dawn, Part I”?

“Well, I mean, it’s one of the most emotional songs that I record for ‘Timez Are Weird.’ One of my favorite songs, called ‘Neighbors.’ It was my first songs I recorded for the album. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it last minute. I don’t know; maybe the producer – we weren’t finished with the song yet. So we’re like, ‘Alright, hold off.’ But it was such a good song. The producer, Greg Wells, is such a good writer. We wrote it together – he did all of Katy Perry’s records. So if I’m like going super pop, that was … But the ‘Twilight’ people heard it and they were like, ‘We need it.’ It was like super emo for vampires, so. It’s like my first time I’m going to go watch a ‘Twilight’ movie. [Laughs]”

And I read about all of the fashion tie-ins you have. You’re going to do – or did – a shoot for Vogue magazine and you’re doing Tommy Hilfiger ads. Tell me about that.

“Well, I think it’s just people were excited off my brand. I look at myself as a brand. Every day I wake up, everything that comes to my mind, the social activity that comes from me that built. You know, brands like Chanel , Nike, all these liquor endorsements and stuff, it’s because it’s exciting. They think my brand can help their brand out. It helps my brand in a lot of ways, too. You know, some people that might think that I’m like only about hip-hop – well, I’m like hip-hop or whatever, but they might see me in a photo and say, ‘Whoa – let me go check this guy’s music out.’ They check it out and it not all just about hip hop. So there’s fun ways to gain fans as well, and grab peoples’ attention. So I guess that brands have been using me for sex appeal.”

Nothing wrong with that. How did you end up working with Solange Knowles and Sara Quinn from Tegan and Sara on your album?

“Uh, Solange is a friend of mine. I remixed one of her songs three years ago, and ever since we’ve been talking. She introduced me to Beyonce and Jay. I know her family and her mom. So when I was working on the album, I knew I wanted her to be on it. Kids love her and her voice and her family’s like a Prince William and sh--. [Laughs] from New York, or America. And Sara Quinn is a great singer and I just admire her work, and I just reached out to her and she loved it. That’s how that came about.”

I saw you guys on “Late Night with David Letterman,” and that performance was just great. And she added to it. That’s really what sort of woke me up to you. When I saw that, I thought you would eventually be something big.

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.